How to Plant a Bee-Friendly Lawn
A lawn can be so much more than just a swath of green that devours time, water, and chemicals. How about a lawn that is low maintenance, tough, and provides food and shelter for pollinators such as bees? While something like this might not be ideal for high traffic areas, or those areas where kids play, we all have those unused swaths of lawn somewhere in our yard. Why not turn all, or even just some of it, into a bee haven?
Planting a lawn that is beneficial to pollinators means planning for diversity, rather than just a monoculture. You'll want several types of plants in your lawn, especially flowering plants. Legumes, such as clover, are a great choice becuase while they provide food for the bees, they also improve your soil. Planting several different types of plants in your "bee lawn" also means that it will be less susceptible to pests and diseases. Even if one plant is affected by something, you'll be growing others, so the problems won't be a big deal. This is a lawn that will pretty much take care of itself once it's established.
Best Places for a Natural Lawn
A full-sun area is ideal for a lawn like this, because most flowering plants need sunny areas. If you have an area that is sunny and also difficult or annoying to mow (such as a slope or awkward angled area) it would be a great place to grow a lawn like this. In our front yard, we have very large native perennial beds, with paths between them.
These paths are not typical lawn grasses -- they are pollinator lawns, and are very, very easy to maintain. Another great place for a lawn like this is around your vegetable garden -- you will have no problems with pollination with a habitat like this nearby!
Planting and Maintaining a Lawn for Pollinators
Once this lawn is established, it will be very low maintenance. You'll only need to mow it once a month or so. When you do mow, you'll want to mow no shorter than three inches. Taller grass is better able to withstand drought, better able to crowd out weed seeds, and provides hiding palces for those beneficial insects.
The good news is, you don't need to remove your current lawn to get this low maintenance pollinator haven. Simply start maintaining it organically and overseed your current lawn with white and/or alsike clover to start. These are both low-growing clovers that provide food to many types of pollinators. Just adding clover will make a difference; over time, it will crowd out the grass, and you'll have a lovely, blooming mass of clover. If you want more diversity (and you do!) you may also want to consider planting mint, thyme, squill, crocus, and chamomoile. All are fairly low growers that have flowes that bees love. You'll also want to add in a few grasses (remember, we're going for biodiversity here -- the more types of plants, the better!) Fine fescues work well for this. You may also want to leave some common "weeds" such as creeping Charlie, dandelions, and violets.
A lawn like this may not be for everyone. If you have to deal with very strict code enforcement or HOA bylaws, you may not have this option. But if you can devote even a small area to a lawn tailored to pollinators, local wildlife will thank you, and you'll find yourself with less lawn work to do on the weekends. Talk about a win-win situation!
Planting a lawn that is beneficial to pollinators means planning for diversity, rather than just a monoculture. You'll want several types of plants in your lawn, especially flowering plants. Legumes, such as clover, are a great choice becuase while they provide food for the bees, they also improve your soil. Planting several different types of plants in your "bee lawn" also means that it will be less susceptible to pests and diseases. Even if one plant is affected by something, you'll be growing others, so the problems won't be a big deal. This is a lawn that will pretty much take care of itself once it's established.
Best Places for a Natural Lawn
A full-sun area is ideal for a lawn like this, because most flowering plants need sunny areas. If you have an area that is sunny and also difficult or annoying to mow (such as a slope or awkward angled area) it would be a great place to grow a lawn like this. In our front yard, we have very large native perennial beds, with paths between them.
These paths are not typical lawn grasses -- they are pollinator lawns, and are very, very easy to maintain. Another great place for a lawn like this is around your vegetable garden -- you will have no problems with pollination with a habitat like this nearby!
Planting and Maintaining a Lawn for Pollinators
Once this lawn is established, it will be very low maintenance. You'll only need to mow it once a month or so. When you do mow, you'll want to mow no shorter than three inches. Taller grass is better able to withstand drought, better able to crowd out weed seeds, and provides hiding palces for those beneficial insects.
The good news is, you don't need to remove your current lawn to get this low maintenance pollinator haven. Simply start maintaining it organically and overseed your current lawn with white and/or alsike clover to start. These are both low-growing clovers that provide food to many types of pollinators. Just adding clover will make a difference; over time, it will crowd out the grass, and you'll have a lovely, blooming mass of clover. If you want more diversity (and you do!) you may also want to consider planting mint, thyme, squill, crocus, and chamomoile. All are fairly low growers that have flowes that bees love. You'll also want to add in a few grasses (remember, we're going for biodiversity here -- the more types of plants, the better!) Fine fescues work well for this. You may also want to leave some common "weeds" such as creeping Charlie, dandelions, and violets.
A lawn like this may not be for everyone. If you have to deal with very strict code enforcement or HOA bylaws, you may not have this option. But if you can devote even a small area to a lawn tailored to pollinators, local wildlife will thank you, and you'll find yourself with less lawn work to do on the weekends. Talk about a win-win situation!
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